Discussions By Condition: I cannot get a diagnosis.

Right groin pain for 24 years

:confused: Words can not express how much I am in pain constantly everyday of my life. I am 42 years old and have had the exact pain since I was 18 y/o. The pain is in my right groin area and radiates into my right lower back and down my right leg. I have complained of this pain since I was 18 years old and so I went to my primary physician and the first thing he said was that it was an inguinal hernia. He sent me to a surgeon in which the surgeon did surgery for a right inguinal hernia. After coming out of anesthesia, the surgeon came into my room and advise me that there was no hernia. He stated that with females that it is harder to diagnose inguinal hernias in females. So, after this the pain continued and I continued to suffer with great pain. The next step was to see my gynecologist. I went to see him and he diagnosed me with endometriosis. He stated that he needed to do a laparoscopy and he did. He told me that I indeed had endometriosis and he scrapped as much as he could. After the surgery, I continued to have the exact same pain. My gynecologist put me on Tylenol #3 for the pain. I continued to call and make appointments again for the exact same pain. During the course of me seeing him, I underwent a total of 3 laps to have him scrape endometriosis. After continuing to have pain, he stated that the only thing that could be done was to go ahead and have my right ovary removed. So, I went into surgery and had a right oopherectomy. During the course of the next several years of my pain and ruling out female problems, it was directed that I had to see a gastroenterologist. So I did. I had multiple procedures to detected what was wrong. I can't remember all of them but I do remember drinking barium and them taking x-rays to rule out any probs. To no avail, they ruled out no gastro probs. Years go by with having the same pain. Then the pain came back with a vengeance and went back to the doctor and my primary care doctor referred me back to a gynecologist and he ran test and told me that I was in need of a full abdominal hysterectomy. This was done with hopes that this was the answer. There would not be any gynecological reasons for the pain. At times, the pain would subside and I would go for months with being pain free. Now, when I turned 40, the pain came back yet again with a vengeance. This time I was advised by my yet again, primary care physician to see a Chiropractor thinking that it could be muscular or a herniated disc. I did see a chiro for a few months which only intensified and at this time I was once again referred to a specialist. I was referred to a spinal doctor and at this time, multiple procedures were performed and multiple testing was done. I underwent a total of 12 steroidal injections within a years time and also underwent 2 rhizotomies. Words can not express how frustrated I am. What on earth could be left to hurt to this degree?!?!?! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Replies:

Could it be a rare case of May-Thurner syndrome on the right side? There is a vascular condition called May-Thurner syndrome. It is when the right iliac artery compresses the left iliac vein against the spine. This causes the blood to congest in the left leg because it can not normally pass the compression on its way back to the heart. It does not necessarily results in the pain at the compression site (if it does it gives a lower back pain); most often it causes pain or swelling or both in the left leg and/or buttock. (Sometimes the anatomical structures are different and this can happen on the right side). If you have a compression like this, after a while your circulatory system is trying to develop alternative veins. They are called collateral veins. Most often there are transpelvis collaterals (horizontal ones from left to right in pelvis), but some patients can develop them near the spine or even inside it. Then it can give pressure on nerves and give numbness and tingling sensation in legs. Another typical symptom is ambulating pain, the pain moves around depending on where the pressure is high at the moment. Also, the pain subsides when you lay down. This condition is vastly underdiagnosed. It is impossible to discover with ultrasound and even difficult to discover with venography (phlebography). The only certain way to discover it is by means of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) where the probe is inside the vein. The best research has been done by Neglén and Raju in Jackson, Miss. The treatment is to put a stent inside the vein at the site of the compression. The typical patient is a young – middle-aged woman, previously healthy where the doctors have not found other explanation for the symptoms. If left untreated, there is a big risk of thrombosis either at the compression site in the common iliac vein or in the leg. Could this possibly help? The best of luck!